What is the Security Council? Who are the key players?
The Security Council is an “unrepresentative relic”. Five of its fifteen seats are occupied by permanent, veto-wielding members; America, Russia, China, Britain and France. The remaining seats are rotated every two years. The second and third biggest contributors to the Security Council budget, being Japan and Germany think they deserve a permanent seat. India and Brazil are also looking for permanent seats due to other valid reasons. At the time being, they are looking at alternatives to accommodate other countries that wish to have a permanent seat.
When was the Security Council developed? Approximation of year budget.
United Nations Security Council was developed in 1945 after WWI, it was then named The League of Nations. The headquarters are in New York, USA. There budget is approximately 1.3 million per year. Four % of which is New York’s annual budget or also equivalent to ½ of Tokyo’s fire department budget. In 1945 the organization started with only 51 members.
Why is the topic significant in the world?
The United Nations Security Council is significant to the world because they are able to help prevent crimes from occurring between seperate countries. The purpose of United Nations Security Council is to maintain world peace. They impose sanctions which are set in place to enforce international law. Without the UN Security Council there would be no one to persuade rulers to alter their economic, military, or human rights policies. These conflicts and crises are what threaten international peace and security.
What are the steps that must be followed by Security Council before they can take action?
The members of the Security Council are allowed to use force while following a specific set of rules and guidelines. The decision to use force must go through a five step process before actions can be taken. The steps include the threat must be grave, the primary purpose must be to avert the threat, force must be a last resort, means must be proportional, and there must be a reasonable chance that force will succeed without calamitous consequences.
Events that have shone an negative light on the Security Council.
Some of the UN’s actions have not been up to others’ expectations and as a result there are concerns. The UN had done little to stop humanitarian disasters, resulting in the war in Iraq becoming the UN’s most obvious sorry state. A concern that was made was that the UN did nothing to stop Iran’s and North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Kofi A. Annan suggested that changes be made, these changes consisted of two broad categories. The two categories were broken into the institutional and the cultural.
There has also been quite a number of rapes preformed by the members of the UN Peacekeepers that were sent to the DRC. Though the UN Security Council claims that they have enforced a strict zero tolerance for this kind of behavior as well as conducting several investigations on the subject, it has shown a negative light on the UN.
How is the UN made up? The UN is made up of six main bodies: General Assembly- Is the main body of representatives composed of 192 representing countries. Each country has one member and one vote on decisions. Each member has to contribute no less than .019% of their annual GDP. Security Council- Responsible for overseeing international peace keeping. There are fifteen members, five of which are permanent (Britain, US, France, China and Russia). These five members have ultimate veto power over all decisions made by the UN. The ten other members are on a rotation which is switched up every two years. The decisions made by the Security Council members are binding on everyone. Secretariat- Oversees the operations of the UN, at the moment it is a man named Ban Ri Moon. Economic &Social Council – Acts as the connection between various organizations affiliated with the UN (UNESCO, WHO, FAO, ILO). International Court of Justice- Is located in Hague, Netherlands. It is the judicial system set up to resolve legal conflict between states. Deals with things like Human Rights violations etc. Trusteeship Council – The Trusteeship Council originally supervised the government of Trust Territories (derived from the League of Nations in 1945) in gaining self-governance or independence. The last remaining Trust Territory, Palau, gained independence in 1994, at which time the council terminated its operations. Since then, new roles for the council have been proposed, including administering the global commons (e.g., the seabed and outer space) and serving as a forum for minority and indigenous peoples. The council is also involved in various peace keeping missions. The council is no longer required to meet annually, but can meet on the decision of the Trusteeship Council’s president or on a request by a majority of its members, by the General Assembly, or by the Security Council.
United Nations
Security Council
By: Olivia Horner
What is the Security Council? Who are the key players?
The Security Council is an “unrepresentative relic”. Five of its fifteen seats are occupied by permanent, veto-wielding members; America, Russia, China, Britain and France. The remaining seats are rotated every two years. The second and third biggest contributors to the Security Council budget, being Japan and Germany think they deserve a permanent seat. India and Brazil are also looking for permanent seats due to other valid reasons. At the time being, they are looking at alternatives to accommodate other countries that wish to have a permanent seat.
When was the Security Council developed? Approximation of year budget.
United Nations Security Council was developed in 1945 after WWI, it was then named The League of Nations. The headquarters are in New York, USA. There budget is approximately 1.3 million per year. Four % of which is New York’s annual budget or also equivalent to ½ of Tokyo’s fire department budget. In 1945 the organization started with only 51 members.
Why is the topic significant in the world?
The United Nations Security Council is significant to the world because they are able to help prevent crimes from occurring between seperate countries. The purpose of United Nations Security Council is to maintain world peace. They impose sanctions which are set in place to enforce international law. Without the UN Security Council there would be no one to persuade rulers to alter their economic, military, or human rights policies. These conflicts and crises are what threaten international peace and security.
The members of the Security Council are allowed to use force while following a specific set of rules and guidelines. The decision to use force must go through a five step process before actions can be taken. The steps include the threat must be grave, the primary purpose must be to avert the threat, force must be a last resort, means must be proportional, and there must be a reasonable chance that force will succeed without calamitous consequences.
Events that have shone an negative light on the Security Council.
Some of the UN’s actions have not been up to others’ expectations and as a result there are concerns. The UN had done little to stop humanitarian disasters, resulting in the war in Iraq becoming the UN’s most obvious sorry state. A concern that was made was that the UN did nothing to stop Iran’s and North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Kofi A. Annan suggested that changes be made, these changes consisted of two broad categories. The two categories were broken into the institutional and the cultural.
There has also been quite a number of rapes preformed by the members of the UN Peacekeepers that were sent to the DRC. Though the UN Security Council claims that they have enforced a strict zero tolerance for this kind of behavior as well as conducting several investigations on the subject, it has shown a negative light on the UN.
How is the UN made up?
The UN is made up of six main bodies:
General Assembly- Is the main body of representatives composed of 192 representing countries. Each country has one member and one vote on decisions. Each member has to contribute no less than .019% of their annual GDP.
Security Council- Responsible for overseeing international peace keeping. There are fifteen members, five of which are permanent (Britain, US, France, China and Russia). These five members have ultimate veto power over all decisions made by the UN. The ten other members are on a rotation which is switched up every two years. The decisions made by the Security Council members are binding on everyone.
Secretariat- Oversees the operations of the UN, at the moment it is a man named Ban Ri Moon.
Economic &Social Council – Acts as the connection between various organizations affiliated with the UN (UNESCO, WHO, FAO, ILO).
International Court of Justice- Is located in Hague, Netherlands. It is the judicial system set up to resolve legal conflict between states. Deals with things like Human Rights violations etc.
Trusteeship Council – The Trusteeship Council originally supervised the government of Trust Territories (derived from the League of Nations in 1945) in gaining self-governance or independence. The last remaining Trust Territory, Palau, gained independence in 1994, at which time the council terminated its operations. Since then, new roles for the council have been proposed, including administering the global commons (e.g., the seabed and outer space) and serving as a forum for minority and indigenous peoples. The council is also involved in various peace keeping missions. The council is no longer required to meet annually, but can meet on the decision of the Trusteeship Council’s president or on a request by a majority of its members, by the General Assembly, or by the Security Council.
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